home plate

American  

noun

Baseball.

• home plates
  plural

1. the base at which the batter stands and which a base runner must reach safely in order to score a run, typically a five-sided slab of whitened rubber set at ground level at the front corner of the diamond.

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home plate British  

noun

1. Also called: plate.   home.   home base.  baseball a flat often five-sided piece of hard rubber or other material that serves to define the area over which the pitcher must throw the ball for a strike and that a base runner must safely reach on his way from third base to score a run

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• home plates
  plural

Etymology

Origin of home plate

An Americanism dating back to 1870–75

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

home plate

Snell threw two pitches to Hao-Yu Lee and then, after a conversation with home plate umpire Chris Guccione, headed off the field and disappeared down the dugout tunnel.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 29, 2026

Báez, now 23, pulverized the very first pitch he saw as a big-leaguer over the center-field fence, a titanic blast that landed 449 feet away from home plate.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026

During the top of the seventh inning, the squirrel found his way between the mound and home plate.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026

At one point in his career, Lauer said, he struggled to explain the sensation of catching his heel on the mound as he completed his delivery toward home plate.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 22, 2026

Malik’s the on-deck batter, and he’s waiting for me at home plate, dancing with his mouthguard dangling out of his mouth.

From "A High Five for Glenn Burke" by Phil Bildner